Ortega Signs Laws On Election Reforms

April 23, 1989|By ROBERT COLLIER, Special to the Sun-Sentinel

MANAGUA -- President Daniel Ortega signed new electoral and media laws on Saturday, setting the ground rules for next February`s national elections but leaving the nation`s political opposition divided on whether to participate in the campaign.

The laws appear to be a carefully crafted package that fulfills the bare minimum requirements of the Sandinistas` Western allies, as Ortega prepares to leave today on an important fundraising trip to 10 West European countries.

The laws eliminate prior media censorship, give the opposition parties 30 minutes per day of free time on both government television stations and 45 minutes per day on government radio stations, and establish an electoral control board comprised of two Sandinistas, two opposition members, and one neutral member.

But several features of the legislation have sparked strong criticism by the opposition. For example, the members of the electoral board will be named by the Sandinista-controlled National Assembly from opposition and government nominees. And the media law retains for the Interior Ministry the wide- ranging right to sanction or close private media for ``reporting against the security of the State, national integrity, peace and public order.``

The opposition`s reaction to the two laws reflected the traditionally deep divisions within anti-Sandinista ranks.

``A Nazi-Fascist Law,`` headlined the conservative daily La Prensa, while a statement by a loose alliance of opposition parties called the package ``psychological terrorism against the Nicaraguan people, with the aim of preparing electoral fraud and bringing about physical repression against the democratic opposition forces.``

However, other opposition politicians said they were satisfied with the laws, and will participate in the elections. ``If I had to grade the reforms, I`d give them a score of 90,`` said Clemente Guido, leader of the Conservative Democratic Party (PCD), the largest opposition party. ``I`m not totally satisfied with it, but the PCD is satisfied because almost all of its proposals were accepted into the law.``

During the month-long debate on the legislation in the National Assembly, the opposition was unable to decide on a common set of demands for reforms to the Sandinista proposals. Conservative opponents pushed a hard-line package of demands, including requirements that the military draft be abolished, that the military be prohibited from voting, and that the 300,000 Nicaraguan exiles in the United States and elsewhere be allowed to vote absentee.

The Sandinistas ignored the demands, noting that most Latin democratic nations permit military voting but prohibit foreign voting.

The 25 opposition parties must now decide whether to participate in the upcoming elections, which will decide who governs Nicaragua until 1996. Despite their harsh criticisms of the new legislation, no conservative opponent has yet ruled out participation in the elections.

With the legislation`s signing, the Sandinistas now claim that they have complied with the initial steps required by the peace pact signed in February by the five Central American presidents.

In recent weeks, the Sandinistas have permitted the Catholic church radio station to reopen, allowed ten expelled foreign priests to reenter Nicaragua, and freed from jail about 1,900 former members of the Somoza dictatorship`s National Guard.

NICARAGUAN REFORMS

Highlights of Nicaragua`s new electoral and media laws:

-- Prior media censorship would be eliminated.

-- Opposition parties will be given 30 minutes per day of free time on the two government TV stations and 45 minutes per day on government radios.

-- An electoral control board would be established, made up of two Sandinistas, two opposition members and a neutral member.

-- Critics have complained that board members will be named by the Sandinista-controlled National Assembly, and the Interior Ministry will retain the authority to sanction or close private media.